U.S. border officials warn Michigan's 'Jobbie Nooner' attendees to report boats
June 24 (UPI) -- U.S. border officials issued a reminder on Tuesday to foreign arrivals bound for Michigan's upcoming "Jobbie Nooner" boating event that federal law requires vessels to be reported upon entering the country.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said it wanted to give a fresh reminder to Canadian or other foreign boating enthusiasts on the way to the annual event with their small pleasure vessels to Gull Island on Michigan's Lake St. Clair that failure to report their boats on arrival in the United States may lead to "significant penalties," such as fines, vessel seizures or even prison in some cases.
"If you do not follow the reporting requirements and enter the United States illegally, you will be prosecuted, and your vessel will be seized," said John R. Morris, CBP's sector chief patrol agent in Detroit.
The Mardi Gras-like "Jobbie Nooner" surrounding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-created Gull Island in Lake St. Clair claims it is one of the world's biggest boat parties.
The event, which is not formally organized, is experienced twice a year and held the Friday before the July 4th weekend, with its second the first Saturday of September. The events attract thousands of participants.
On Friday, Jobbie Nooner's 45th event event kicks-off, with September 6 slated as the year's second.
Jobbie Nooner attracts in multitudes of seasoned but, according to officials, also inexperienced attendees piloting a boat or other water vehicle, with some that will be seen coming-and-going during daily festivities while others at night will tent up to let the night continue.
"The thing is, it's kind of an unmanageable event, and we have not endorsed it -- ever," Deputy Steve Campau, a spokesman for the St. Clair Sheriff's Office, told Detroit Free Press five years ago as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on.
Many states have adopted tougher laws for drunken boating.
In 2010, Michigan lawmakers deliberated a bill, which ultimately became law, to lower the state's permissible blood-alcohol level for boating to the 0.08% threshold to match the state limit on motor vehicle drivers.
Meanwhile, officials in America's frontline border agency pointed to "innovative" and now "faster" ways for foreign visitors to make the required face-to-face arrival reporting a task more convenient via smart phone or other device.
The federal government says any operator of a small vessel arriving in the United States from a foreign port includes "any vessel which has visited a hovering vessel or received merchandise outside territorial waters."
It suggested U.S.-bound Jobbie Nooner participants consider utilizing CBP's ROAM app -- free on Apple App and Google Pay -- which is able to satisfy a boat operator's U.S. legal obligation to check-in with American authorities in person.
Exceptions, however, include travelers who require CBP's I-94 form to track arrival and departure of non-American citizens, those mandated to pay import fees and "other circumstances as applicable," according to federal law.
The agency added that the good old-fashioned telephone can still be used by Jobbie Nooner boating officiants to locate the nearest CBP office in order to report in the United States on arrival.
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